Take no prisoners: the new ferocity in the football team

by Alyssa Daley

Tue, Sep 12th 2017 11:00 pm

Photo courtesy of Brockport Athletics Communication on Flickr
The Golden Eagles secure their second win of the season while beating the Ithaca Bombers 31- 0. The team will look to carry its dominant momentum into the 13th annual Courage Bowl this Saturday, Sept. 16th. Good teamwork and spirit will be essential if the Golden Eagles wish to return home as victors.

The College at Brockport Golden Eagles are on a roll so far this season with two substantial wins under their cleats against the Hobart College Statesmen and the Ithaca College Bombers. These wins were not toss up games; The Golden Eagles have come out this season with a ferocity that was lacking previously. The 31-0 shutout against Ithaca College on Saturday, Sept. 9 proves the team means business this year. A large factor in obtaining this new mindset could very well be the underclassmen on the team.

“I think the biggest thing with the freshmen is that they push us not to be complacent,” senior kicker Brett Renzi said. “You know people come in, we have two new freshmen kickers this year and both are really skilled people, and they push everyone else, they push me to be better. Overall they’re a really competitive group.”

The majority of key offensive plays during Saturday’s matchup were executed by freshmen and sophomore athletes. Sophomore wide receiver DaQuan Hubbard, freshman wide receiver Tyree Brown and freshman running back Camron Abalos proved why they were out there on the field. Trying to stand out from 98 other teammates is a hard enough task without being low on the totem pole in terms of years played on the team. Based on their performance against Ithaca College, the totem pole might be rearranged by mid-season.

With only two games completed thus far in the season the team has time to build up consistency in the way the individual players perform, as well as how the team performs together as a unit on the field.

The Golden Eagles will be going up against the St. John Fisher Cardinals this coming Saturday, Sept. 16 and they won’t have the advantage of playing at home. The Courage Bowl is always a high-intensity game with large fan turnouts on both sides. Last year the game was hosted by Brockport, so this year it will be the Cardinals turn to set the scene.

Courage Bowl XIII will be the first game of the Empire 8 Conference but already the team is making itself known. The Golden Eagles have entered the D3football.com Top 25 Poll for the first time since 2012 at number 25. The team’s first win of the season against Hobart College, ranked 14, was monumental in setting the tone for the year to come. The Cardinals are currently ranked 23 in the same poll, but while the Golden Eagles have won their season opener against the Hobart College and dominated their matchup against the Bombers, the Cardinals have suffered two losses, one of them against the Statesmen.

“The biggest thing [we have to do going into Saturday’s game] is to just stay focused,” Renzi said. “[We’re doing well on] all three phases: special teams, defense and offense. Defense shut our last game out and offense played really well too. So when you click on all cylinders it’s easy to play when everyone’s doing their part.”

The team’s early season results most definitely indicate that as of right now the Golden Eagles are firing on all cylinders. The trick is being able to bring this energy, ambition and motivation all the way through to NCAA Championships in November.

“Hopefully we’ll be going all the way,” Renzi said in response to how far he thinks the team will end up this season. “You never know though so we need to stay focused. We’ve had good teams in the past, we just need to keep closing games out and winning the games we’re supposed to win. We’re doing pretty good right now so hopefully we [are able to pull through all the way to championships this year].”

With an undoubtable amount of potential this year’s combination of Golden Eagles are prepared and hopeful that they’ll go all the way starting with a win on Saturday.